Room Division Sample

Accommodation and front office service for two different organization

The accommodation provided in the hospitality services of hotel includes a variety number of rooms and varied housing services. The information provided to customers for respective standards of room plays a significant role (Jerenz, 2008). The customer requires different types of room on the basis of size and accommodation spaces.

The comparison is drawn between boutique hotel, Ealing Broadway London and Hilton Hotels & Resorts. The Ealing broadway London is categorized as Bed & Breakfast hotel. On the other hand Hilton Hotel and Resorts is an international chain of full service hotel having above 4 star ratings.

Comparison drawn herein-

1.Accommodation- While Boutique hotel have 100 room to accommodate up to 250 guest, on the other hand Ealing Broadway Hotel have fewer than 10 bedrooms available for commercial use. Hilton hotel has the highest over 200 rooms in comparison to the above two hotels.

2.Linen service and Laundry- Boutique and Hilton hotel provide this services to all its guests with nominal amount of extra charges. But, Ealing Broadway London does not equip its guests with these additional services.

3.Cleaning services- this is identified as one of the prime importance for any hotel. All the three mentioned hotels try its best to maintain its premises clean.

4.Environmental Issues- Since both Boutique and Ealing Broadway London are working at low scale are unable to meet the environmental issues. On the other hand Hotel Hilton has recognized this issue as an important aspect of society and address the same with greater efficiency.

5.Health, safety and security- Hotel Hilton operating in numerous countries undertake special measures on the health, safety and security aspects. The Boutique hotel on the other hand being a two star hotel has though installed equipment addressing the health, safety and security systems but is unable to maintain the same on a periodical basis. Lastly, the Ealing Broadway London involving only a limited number of people pay no or little attention on meeting the above aspects.

6.Documentation and records- For proper maintenance of accounts and records of the guest it is the prime duty of front office staff to make regular entries in its books. This point is effectively met by all the three hotels.

The accommodation services bring out the level of different rooms. Therefore, in order to enhance the ratings, company is planning to increase its current base of accommodation from 100 to 200 rooms which shall be further bifurcated into luxurious suits, mini suits and executive floor especially for the business clients. This will help the hotel in accommodating more customers and to generate more revenue (Nyheim and Connolly, 2011).

In both the organizations, importance of front office cannot be left unseen. The front office spread the word of information in a systematic form in order to provide the complete accurate information regarding room services. The staff appointed must be friendly and soft spoken so that it can help the hotel to enhance communication towards guests.

Roles and responsibilities of reception services and accommodation

The accommodation and reception undertake multiple roles and responsibilities at the same time by performing various tasks. The receptionists are the front face of organization and therefore, it is their responsibility to show a gesture of humbleness and to carry welcoming smile on their faces all time for the guests. The receptionists deal with various requests and queries of guests against the hotel. It is highly important for the reception to hold a professional and friendly approach towards the guests all time.

The accommodation services targets on some important issues by addressing the spacing of rooms and through maintaining and making the rooms more presentable to the guests. The maintenance of attached toilets and different facilities such as microwave and refrigerator must be assured. Further, the addition of luxury rooms to hotel will require more efforts in repairing and maintaining the luxurious facilities in it (Polaine, Løvlie and Reason, 2013). This will in turn reap more revenues for the hotel and help in gaining 5 stars as well. The accommodation services also include ensuring that the different linens of rooms are clean and germs free. This will include roles of checking the furniture fitting and assuring its periodical repairs. They also act as a coordinator between different departments and provide training for meeting the standards of performance.

Discussing the legal and statutory requirements that are applied to room division

The legal and statutory compliance shall help hotel in gaining confidence from guests by assuring them that standard services are being provided to them. The compliance of below statutory guidelines will assist the hotel in achieving higher grades. The UK laws have set some statutory provision in context of following heads that can be incorporated by the boutique hotel are-

Employee right and protection- It is important for room division services to undertake the protection in interest of employees and staff members that are working within hotel. The Health & Safety Act 1974 provides the protection of employees by keeping their health as of utmost importance. The hotel must assure that detergent that is being used is not harmful; the water is distilled and contains no chemical substance in it along with the gloves that they wear and safety equipment while repairing different rooms. The employees must be properly trained to deal with the different chemical substances. It is the responsibility of hotel to ensure there safety and must provide clearly state the information to housekeeping and staff management about the varied emergency procedures that are available to them.

Protection of Data- Data provided by customers is highly important for hotel to maintain and keep it confidential. The personal information like credit card details, contact number, address etc. provided by guests must be kept confidential in all cases. If in case, any information leaked can be considered as the breach of trust and the hotel may be penalized under the Data Protection Act 1988.

Security Alarm- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 has made it mandatory for all hotels to take appropriate measure to protect people using the premises from the risk of fire. It is important for company to install automatic fire detection systems and assure that the alarm is loud enough to wake if the guests are asleep.

Safety Guidelines- the Hotel is required to circulate in its public area as well as bedrooms about varied instructions that can help in securing ones safety.

Law related to environmental- This law is important to be considered regarding protection of environment and for avoiding the usage of contaminant substances that could have led to an adverse consequence on the environment (Belhassen and Shani, 2012). For example, the hotel must assure that there is proper treatment of waste water. The hotel should be cautious regarding serving of alcoholic beverages in its lounge/bar area.

Evaluating the services that are offered by room division in hospitality businesses

The room division plays a significant role in the hotel that is providing hospitality services to the guests who are coming for a stay there. Key function of it is to plan and undertake the evaluation of different operations for entire business. The room division is required in this industry for better and enhanced distribution of services to the guests.

The Castle Cottage Bed and Breakfast’s tree house, having thatched roofs and glass roofed shower room is nicely built on an ancient chestnut tree. It has double bedrooms and provide free breakfast. These houses are not only appealing for the kids but also a good holiday experience for adults. It provides different resting amenities and proper food for their customers. The cleanliness being of extreme importance is particularly ensured here. The enhanced services in relation to the luxurious services are to be checked and monitored regularly in order to please such customers.

The Youth hostel services provide with services specially for students and family who come in for long duration and are more price sensitive. It is not beneficial for business travelers because they often stay for a day or two and require varied services. The business travelers are not more concerned about the price factor rather they look at more efficient and quick services. This requirement might not be fulfilled by the youth hostel services.

Pickles in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK bring in best services for its customer's. The lounge area of restaurant is free WiFi zoned. The restaurant has an open kitchen that builds the confidence of its customers towards its cleanliness of food preparations. It ensures proper control over inventory of food for their guests which also includes managing of catering services. The restaurant checks the room facilities to ensure that the standards of performance are being maintained or not. The performance indicators are also set by the restaurants which is highly important in gaining more revenues (Schmidgall, 2006). The room division services also encompasses in its wide ambit of services towards guests about seeking their problems and taking the initiative to solve them.

Therefore, it can be said that the room division services will help in shaping the future brand value for company.

Assessing importance of front of house area towards effective management

The 2 star hotels in order to upgrade it to 5 stars require adding a lot of features in its current hotel along-with gaining efficient staff. The front of house area is the first place with which a guest encounters. It leaves a lasting impression on the guests and also helps in representing the entire hotel to guests. Therefore, it can be said that it is important for hotel management to ensure the key aspects of front of house area. First is to ensure that the interior layout and designing of that area must be attractive and fascinating. The area must be such that it gives positive vibes to the guests who are entering in the hotel. A dull and boring area will leave a negative impression on guests (Orfila-Sintes, Crespí-Cladera and Martínez-Ros, 2005). The front office area should have free WiFi and adequate sitting arrangements in the area with completely air conditioned to grasp the guest’s attentions. The ambiance of front office area must be soothing to the eyes of guests. The front office staff is required to be soft and polite towards the guests as they are the first with whom customers meet.

The front of house area will include the concierge who is responsible for greeting guests and acknowledge them with the hotels facilities and assisting the guests throughout its stay. It is important that the concierge must be flexible, posses good communication skills, handling the bookings and good memorizing capacity. The security guard is the first person that the guest encounter with. He is responsible for the safety of guests as well as the hotel. Its primary duties include patrolling of the property, surveillance and monitoring of the equipment and ensuring the guest safety as its utmost duty.

Therefore, it is important for them to draw lasting information on guests. The hotel must make all possible attempts to engage and enable the guests to have satisfactory experience.

Key aspects of planning and management of front of house area

It is highly required to plan and manage the front of house area in order to gain 5 star ratings. Being this as the main point of contact area for guests and visitors, it is important to pay more attention to it. The different aspects that will help the hotel in gaining good ratings are-

1. The management at front house area is the one who make reservations and periodically updates the status of check in. It is the responsibility of staff to check the progress of different bookings that are made by guests on different dates. The modern equipment and techniques must be used for maintaining proper database of past, present and future bookings (Seymour and Sandiford, 2005).
2. Communication skills are the key factors that are important for making a pleasing and healthy conversation along-with the guests. For the front of house area that is the first and last point of contact with guests, it is highly important for the staff to draw a lasting impression on them during both interactions. The communication skills are also important to bring in effective solutions to the problem which may be faced by the guests during their visits.
3. The data given to front office staff is also required to withhold by them for security purposes. For any hospitality firm, it is important to keep the customer’s personal information confidential.
4. The front of house area staff should also be capable to recognize the needs and wants of customers. The feedback provided by customers must be taken into deep consideration by the staff and should try and improve it through self-development and learning.
5. The front of house area must monitor at regular intervals the performance of its staff and check whether they meet the high standards to which hotel look upon.
6. There must be proper use of technologies such as DSS and MIS system into its operating system which will ensure quick and effective delivering of its services. Better efficiency through these system will bring in more customer satisfaction.
7. The data provided by the staff belonging to front of house area must ensure proper security of such data. The personal data given my customer's are highly confidential and it is the responsibility of them to keep such data protected.

Critically discussing the key operational issues of front office

There are various operational issues that are present in managing the firm and its business effectively (Rutherford and O'Fallon, 2007). Most important and key business transactions passes through front office and there are various barriers that occur in managing them. The different issues that often arise are-

• For any hospitality business, its prime resources are their guests and visitors. Understanding their needs and wants is a crucial matter that requires special skills and presence of mind to identify such desires of customers (Zhang, Ye and Law, 2011).
• The financial issues that are required to be solved by the front office cashier are effective handling, preparing and ultimately, managing of guest’s account responsibility lies with them.
• The lacking of staff in communication skills can result in losing the potential customers. Communication skills are the key aspects for coordination of different departments, managing guest’s queries etc.
• Adhering and following the company policies is also difficult.
• The marketing and sales are expensive and do not bring in fast results. The inadequate marketing of the hotel can result in losing its market goodwill.
• The issues related to transperancy in working system is prominently seen in many businesses.

This issue can be addressed by providing proper training to staff in order to handle various financial problems. The staff can be trained to develop and enhance their communication skills in order to derive more customers and revenue (Albacete-Saez, Fuentes-Fuentes and Lloréns-Montes, 2007). The company should also clear the points regarding different policies and code of conduct along with ensuring that it is being strictly followed or not. The marketing issue can addressed by choosing two or more medium of promotions like online blogs, newspapers, social media, television etc. With multiple promotion for marketing the results can be seen more quickly than from just one way of promotions. Similarly, the transparency issue can be overcome by using the different technologies that create systematized procedures, such that the loop holes are clearly identified.

Importance of property interiors and designing of effective management

The change in property interiors has an impact on the customers to a great extent. The interiors represent as the quality of hotel. The innovation in their material and using of artistic designs create a positive impression on customer's mind. There is plenty of availability of contract facilities that involve franchise and management of contract. These contracts entered into the boutique hotel can help in improving the management of company. In this way, the role of franchise and parties of contract are involved in business. The firm should ensure the cleanliness of premises and must follow the laws which help in maintaining the governance along-with the standards of room. The role of receptionists is also important as they are responsible for providing the key information to customers. This information also involves troubleshooting of queries and problems that are faced by the customers during their stay. The effective management can also be found by checking the rise of revenue of hotel. The adding of more luxurious rooms will help in fetching high amount of revenues. In the same way, the designing operation will require a lot of interior works (Gil, Hudson and Quintana, 2006).

The property interiors and designing can be ensured with the help of introduction of technology such as effective lightening in the premises, more systematize system of working, room entry through card not keys etc appeal customer's towards the hotel. The services provided by the staff also holds significance as it helps in building the customer's confidence and loyalty towards the hotel. Therefore, while designing operation it is important to assure the quality of customer's services.

Discussing the critical aspect of planning and management of accommodation services

The planning and management of accommodation form of services is a crucial aspect for any hotel. It is recognized through more number of rooms and suits that is planned by the boutique hotel (Tranter, Stuart-Hill and Parke, 2011). This aspect is the prime factor that can help the hotel in getting more ranks. It is also due to the increase in revenue generation of company. The present number of rooms that company has is 100 and its expansion to 200 will help in increasing the occupancy rate and profits manifold. The hotel is required to employ more staff to deal with more number of guests. There will be high requirements of facilities that can be carried out on a large range. The efficient planning will lead to more attraction and generation of money.

The prime factor associated with accommodation services are the different rooms and services that it provides to its customers. The accommodation services also include the extra services which are quite prominently asked by customer's in any hotel. The linen and laundry services must be present in the boutique hotel to assure. The ensuring of cleanliness of the premises is also highly important for the organization. In order to get good grades the hotel must incorporate measures that look forward in meeting the environmental sustainability and that manages the waste properly.

Key operational issues in accommodation services

The accommodation department requires undertaking various activities such as preparing budgets, scheduling staffs, repair and maintenance, controlling expenses and ensuring compliance of regulations (Teboul, 2006).

The key issues that might arise for gaining higher ratings by the hotel are such as requiring more space for accommodation of high amount of people and appointing right candidate for the right job is also a challenging issue. With the rapid increase in competition in hotel industry, the hotel is required to use more loyalty programs and attractive schemes to attract more customers. This is done because the only source of income is from customers from whom the staff is paid with salaries.

The hotel faces key issues in effective marketing about its different accommodation services that it seeks to provide. Often there is difficulties arising in targeting the customer to which specifically marketing is done. The most complex issue that an organization face is with the pricing strategy it is important for it to keep the prices competitive. In order to keep the prices high it can offer additional to its customer's for free. This will often attract the more customer's towards the hotel.

Therefore, in order to gain profit, hotel is required to address the accommodation issues to capture more customers.

Performing revenue/yield management to maximize the occupancy and room revenues

The revenue or yield management is an organized process for forecasting, pertaining and influencing the behavior of consumers in order to gain the maximum profit from different activities that are conducted by hotel. The application of revenue or yield management will require hotel to gain more resources by targeting whether the customers are cyclic or recurring or both. The demand should be effective for the services which are offered by the hotel (WHAT EXACTLY IS THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY?, 2015). For this, the demand can be managed through two channels of distribution in which one is controlled method and other is intermediary method. In controlled method, the customers are driven through the hotel brands and in intermediary method; a middleman is appointed which individually promotes the hotel.

With the increase in revenue, company can increase its occupancy area and may undertake more number of activities which will help in drawing attention of public towards its hotel.

Hotels facing fluctuations in the market depend on the seasonality and demand. With the varying market conditions and seasonality the hotel experience slow periods. Instead of reducing rates during these periods the hotel can look forward to adopt the strategy that will help in adding more values and offers to its list for customer's during such periods. This will not just keep the hotel value effective but also bring the rates more competitive.

The revenue/yield management help in determining the strategic inventory and focus on controlling it effectively to utilize at the right time for right customer's. This has a drawback that it often results in price discrimination due to difference in prices for identical goods and services.

Analyzing the sales technique

The different marketing techniques can be applied for influencing more customers and for increasing the revenues for hotel (Sherman, 2007). The hotel can use more loyalty programs for its regular customers by providing them membership cards, loyalty cards, different discounts on bookings etc., and the hotel can also spread the information about its plan to upgrade with more effective services without varying much about prices. The hotel must go through the feedback form and try to satisfy customers in a better way than before. The hotel can also promote its hotel through online promotional schemes that are provided to the customers. It can include discounts for online booking and special offer that is exclusively available to online users etc.

The hotel can adopt different pricing strategy to manipulate its sales. The sales can either be market based pricing that vary as per the market needs or it can shift over to a negotiated one. The negotiated pricing strategy are often fluctuating as per the seasonal changes and corporate demands. The hotels often use overbooking strategy as a mean to show hype of its customer demands. The referrals can be used by the hotel for engaging more customer's. It is systematic chain of connecting to people that are linked through the current customers.

Purpose and use of forecasting and statistical data

The forecasting includes gaining of revenue and determining the work commitment by different staff members. The accuracy of statistical data is important for establishing as a five star rating hotel. This will lead to a great increase in revenue generation for company. The forecasting will help in identifying the number of rooms that are required for meeting the future sales (Orfila-Sintes and Mattsson, 2009). The present rooms are 100 and in order to gain 5 star rating, this number is increased by hotel up to the level of 200 rooms. The bifurcation into luxurious and mini suits is indicating the attractiveness of consumers towards company.

The forecasting can help in determining the varied room accommodation availability, the pricing quotations of different rooms, the room occupancy different seasons and the past trends depicted through it help in evaluating high and low demand of hotel. The forecasting evaluates the seasonal business and cyclic patterns of room occupancy during different periods.

Evaluation of performance indicators

The performance indicator can be identified through following method of room occupancy %. The room occupancy defines the proportion between occupied and total availability of rooms (Hospitality and Accommodation Services, 2015).

Current Room Occupancy percentage = Number of rooms let in hotel/ total rooms * 100

= 80/100*100 = 80%

Minimum Expected Room Occupancy that hotel should meet after expansion is 160 out of 200.

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be clearly concluded that room division plays a crucial role in determining the success of hotel. The hotel services are mainly affected through two major departments which are front office and accommodation. These two departments are thoroughly evaluated in the report. The different issues are also recognized in these areas and appropriate measures are also undertaken in the report.

References

• Nyheim, P. and Connolly, D., 2011. Technology strategies for the hospitality industry. Prentice Hall Press.
• Orfila-Sintes, F. and Mattsson, J., 2009. Innovation behavior in the hotel industry. Omega.
• Orfila-Sintes, F., Crespí-Cladera, R. and Martínez-Ros, E. 2005. Innovation activity in the hotel industry: Evidence from Balearic Islands. Tourism Management.
• Polaine, A., Løvlie, L. and Reason, B., 2013. Service design. From Implementation to Practice. New York: Reosenfeld Media.
• Rutherford, D. G. and O'Fallon, M. J., 2007. Hotel management and operations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

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